Friday, November 07, 2008

Giants Notes

Free agents still cannot officially discuss business with potential new suitors for another week, but there is already plenty of speculation going on in the bay area about what the Giants will do once the floodgates open. We've seen Mark Teixeira and Adam Dunn's name already thrown out there. Here are a few notes over the past week that have gained some headlines on the Giants front:

Giants showing interest in Rafael Furcal: I did mention Furcal here a while back towards the end of the season discussing him as the type of player Brian Sabean seems to covet in free agency (see Ray Durham, Edgardo Alfonzo, Dave Roberts ect.) as a player who can be dominant at times, but he's on the wrong side of 30 and injuries are starting to take their toll. Accroding to the Los Angeles Time, the Giants have already had discussions with Furcal's agent. Furcal would be a nice addition to any lineup and he's likely seeking a 3+ year contract worth 13 million dollars annually. When he's healthy, he's almost worth it, as he showed in the post-season, but the Giants have had limited success in free agency since 2002. If they could get him on a 1-2 year deal to show prove he's healthy, then I'd be all for it, but he's going to get offers elsewhere and I'm not convinced the Giants should get into a bidding war. However, if the next topic I'm going to discuss (Rowand)comes to fruition, then I'd be a lot more open to signing a guy like Furcal. It also would considerably weaken the Dodgers which is also a good thing.

Giants possibly dangling Aaron Rowand: This one caught me by surprise, and although the odds are against it happening, it does pose an interesting possible turn of events. The Giants have Nate Schierholtz rearing to go full time and prove that he can (or can't) keep an everyday job in the bigs, but he's being blocked right now by Fred Lewis and Randy Winn. If the Giants could deal Rowand, it would allow them to shift Winn to center and give Schierholtz right. Also, the free agent market is thin in regards to outfielders, especially in center where Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark Kotsay head the list. The Yankees were among teams that had interest in him last winter when he was a free agent and they are always willing to add payroll. Although Rowanddidn't have the best offensive year in his first go round in SF, he has established himself as a clubhouse leader with the Giants already as well as a fan favorite in San Francisco with his all-out play. However, if the Giants have a shot to free up some payroll that could be spent in other areas, as well as opening up a spot for Schierholtz, I'd be all for it.Giants possibly bringing Pat Burrell back to the Bay Area: Pat Burrell has been on the Giants radar it seems for the past 4 or 5 years. He would fit in well at AT&T Park because he is a right handed pull hitter who's 30 home run a year power would not be affected by the spacious ball-park. But that's about where all the positives end with Burrell. At this point in his career he's a .250 hitter and he's not particularly clutch. He's also slow and immobile making him a below average outfielder and the Giants already have an abundance of outfield options. The only way the Giants could consider him is if they can make him a first basemen, which is notoriously thought as being an easier transition than it is. That said, it would be nice to have a 30 home run-a-year bat in the lineup somewhere as the Giants were dead last in all of baseball in the home run department last year. If the Giants could get Burrell on a home town discount (3 years, $30 million) and if he can play a halfway decent first base, he may be worth going after. There are some positives that he'd bring in addition to the low-average and subpar defense as he is pretty much a shoe in for 30 bombs a year, he does get on base a lot, and he has stayed healthy throughout his career.

Again, these are just names that have been written or talked about over the last couple days, so it's all speculation, but Brian Sabean said earlier in the week after the General Manager meetings that he will not trade Matt Cain(unless he's blow away by an offer) and may be more willing to dip into the free agent market than he had originally thought. So keep an eye on the guys above if that becomes the case.

I heard Juan Uribe mentioned as a possible player the Giants may go after. The weird thing though was that they said the Giants would want him for 3rd base. I can think of dat least a dozen other free agents who would be better than Uribe. What a joke. They mentioned it on the Giants website too. I just don't get it.

He also could be half decent at 1B because he was a 3B in college and played half his first season at 1B, though, obviously, all that is almost 10 years ago. Like riding a bicycle? :^)

I would like to note here that when we got Durham, he never spent a day on the DL and had a 5-6 year string of playing 150+ games. So you never know with anybody you get, injuries history or not. Durham was a great acquisition at the time, it just didn't work out well in the end.

Juan Uribe is no Neifi Perez. Uribe has reached 20 homers three times in his career and Neifi would be lucky to sniff double digits, let alone 20.

And he is not a signing, he is under contract with the ChiSox and we would actually have to give up some prospects to get him, though I would assume very minor prospects, I think they just want to dump salary, look at the Swisher trade (why we couldn't have done that, I don't know, the Yankees gave up three nobodies PLUS got a nice pitcher back in return; highway robbery, what is their GM Kenny Williams smoking? Or is Swisher doing something illegal that Kenny wanted to get rid of? Really lopsided trade, I mean, his salary is still cheap for the reduced production he had in 2008)

Oh, and I should note that HR power is all Uribe provides, he doesn't hit for average nor walk enough to get on base much, so homers are his main reason for being in the majors, that and, previously, playing SS. He's not so valuable playing 1B or 3B. Even 2B he's not so OK the past couple of years.